Against the Odds
by ICan'tThinkOfACleverUsername
Summary: We all come into the world blissfully unaware of the terrors out there. Once you grow up from being an innocent child and find out just how cruel of a place the world is you ache to be ignorant once more. That's how I feel anyway. I long to be a fool to reality. Never would I suffer through this unbearable pain that I have gotten to know well over the past year.
1. Prolouge

**_AN: So here is the start of the remake of my other uncompleted story, Comparisons and Differences. I hope to have better characterization, grammar, less plot holes, and just a better story in general._**

**_DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER. ANYTHING YOU RECOGNIZE BELONGS TO JK ROWLING._**

**Prologue**

Everyone dies eventually. It's just the natural circle of life, I guess. We all come into the world blissfully unaware of the terrors out there. Once you grow up from being an innocent child and find out just how cruel of a place the world is you ache to be ignorant once more. That's how I feel anyway. I long to be a fool to reality. Never would I suffer through this unbearable pain that I have gotten to know well over the past years.

My fingers tighten around the large bottle of firewhisky. I raise it up to my lips and take another swig from the brown bottle. It burns slightly as it goes down my throat, but I don't even take notice due to the huge hole in my heart. I keep thinking that I could just drink away my sorrows, but it still hasn't worked. The numbness that I felt previously has disappeared. Now the liquid seems to only make my mind conjure up ways things would have been if events had turned out differently, which isn't doing my conscious much justice. Why can't I just forget these horrid memories that plague my mind both day and night? I can't sleep due to awful nightmares and during the day flashbacks keep sneaking up into my mind. I wish they would just leave me be for one measly night.

A sudden wave of anger hits me and I take the half empty bottle in my hand and chuck it at the wall a few feet in front of me. I feel a sting on my cheek where a shard of glass had bounced back and scraped me. I slowly raise my hand and feel the cut on my face. It's deep and bleeding profusely. I try not to let the memories the sticky, red liquid reminds me of take over my mind. Then I pick up the tainted shard of glass. I wonder what it would feel like if I joined them. Let death take me and escape this hell on earth. It would be easy, just a slip of the wrist and it would just feel like falling asleep… No, I mustn't think of those thoughts, no matter how tempting they are. I would be letting myself down, not to mention my friends and family.

I wish that I had someone to console in. With my parents being long gone and James and Lily blown to bits, I didn't really have any family left. And I never had many friends, let alone any who survived the war or aren't in Azkaban. And Regulus… Why did he have to leave me alone? He promised me he would come back to me, but he lied. At this point, I felt a tears start to slip down my face, the salty water stinging the fresh cut. Why did he always have to lie to me?

_**AN- So here is the prologue. The first chapter should be up in a few days. Leave a review and give me your feedback on how this is turning out! **_

_**Until next time. -Laura**_


	2. Leaving for Hogwarts

**Chapter One: Leaving for Hogwarts**

"Make sure you stay out of trouble this year, James," Mum tells my older brother as we enter through the platform. "Your father and I don't want anymore of those owls that are constantly sent home with letters telling us that you've been misbehaving." Then Mum pulls him in for a tight hug that lasts forever.

A snort escapes my mouth before I can silence it. The idea of James Potter staying out of trouble is just hilarious to me. Why the hell would he stop now after pulling pranks like a mad man for the the past six years? It's just impossible.

My mother then turns to the boy standing next to my brother, Sirius Black. He has been living with us since the end of my fourth after he ran away from his home because he parents were terrible to him for not being a pretentious asshole to people who aren't of pure blood.

"Thank you for allowing me to stay another year, Mrs. Potter. I really appreciate it," Black said to my mum in his charming voice with that smile that seems to allow him wrap anyone around his finger and it looks like my mother fell for it ages ago.

"Oh, not a problem, Sirius! You are always welcome in the Potter family whenever it is needed. Now, I'm not your mother, but listen to the advice I gave my son and stay out of trouble." He was then pulled into a hug much like my brother was.

When she finally releases Sirius, she turns to me with an unsure expression on her barely wrinkled face. "Sophie, dear, please try to keep your grades up this year. Your father and I were rather displeased at your OWL results this summer. Don't slack off this year." She hesitates before giving me a quick hug around my unmoving body.

A scowl appears on my face after hearing the advice she gave me. My OWL's were fine! All passing except for one, which was Transfiguration. How ironic that my worst subject is the one my brother excels in.

My father then walks over behind me and puts his hand on my shoulder, "Don't listen to your mother, darling. You did wonderful on your testing. O's in Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ancient Runes, and even in History of Magic. Even I have no idea how you pulled that last one off. Professor Binns is quite a joke, even when I went to Hogwarts he was. "

My parents and I have a difficult relationship. Mum and I have never really gotten along in all of my sixteen years of life. After my birth, all she hoped for was for me to be just like her, which was the exact opposite of what I turned out to be. I don't even look like her. The only feature I have of her's are my piercing, ice blue eyes. My black, messy locks come from my father along with my angular facial structure, compared to her heart shaped face, soft features, and light brown hair. I believe that she still resents me for never becoming that perfect little girl that she always wanted me to be. Now my father is a completely different story. Unlike my mother, he does not pick favorites and gets along fine with both of his children, though James a considerable amount more due to my uncooperative behavior. I remember that as a child, I would always love to play with my father. His crinkled eyes and always smiling face are in some of my best memories.

My brother, James, is a much more complicated thing to explain. As kids, the two of us were like two peas in a pod. You could never separate one from the other without a scene breaking loose. It was like this for years, but stopped when James went to Hogwarts. I vividly remember crying profusely when I first heard of what was going to happen. My brother was leaving and I wouldn't see him until Christmas. He promised me he would write often as he boarded the train, and I believed him. Then next few months I waited for a letter from James, but one never arrived. Just as I was about to give up hope, an owl came swooping into the house and dropped a letter on the table. Excitement filled me as I ripped it open, but it all stopped when I read it. It was James informing the family that he wouldn't be coming home until next summer and that he made some friends and was having a blast. I was so disappointed and heart broken. Here I was at home, all alone, and I get a letter basically saying how he was living it up at school, not a care about me anymore. I had been replaced, and that was only enforced during summer break when he went off with his friends and never held one conversation with me. I know it's a petty thing to be so upset over, but when James did this to me, he unknowingly changed and shaped me into who I am today. My brother constantly wonders what happened to the innocent little girl that he left behind, but I frankly don't care. He helped make me into the bitter and sadistic person that I am now. We don't get along now because I still resent him for it.

"Okay, all of you on the train now. It's about to take off," Mum tells us and right as she finishes the train's whistle blows. "Now, remember what I told you kids. Behave boys. And try not to slack off anymore, Sophie."

I roll my eyes slightly as I turn and board the train without a backwards glance at my family. The familiar smell of the leather seats and candy from the trolley fills my nostrils, causing a slight smile to come across my face as I enter an empty compartment and sit down on the seat nearest to the window. It was wiped right off my face when the glass door slid open and a group of boys entered.

"What the hell do you want?" I asked with a deep scowl on my face. Can't they ever leave me alone?

"Oh, not much," James said as he sat down across from me in a sloppy manner. "It's just that every other compartment is full."

Anger fills me as I hiss out my response, "So? Go find some first years to bother. I had my turn dealing with you four bastards over the summer."

The other three take a seat, Remus next to me and Pettigrew on his other side. Sirius opted to take the empty space next to James and throw his feet up next to him.

"Jeez, Sophie, watch the language. You swear more that Sirius on a bad day," my arrogant brother informs me with a stupid smirk on his face.

"Like I give a shit," I mutter bitterly. I then stomp out of the compartment with a huge frown on my face. Must my brother annoy the hell out of me every chance he gets? Apparently my anger distracted me so much that I literally run into someone.

"Hey, watch were you're going!" a boy shouts when we collide. We both hit each other so hard that we fell to the floor. "Just like that thing you call a brother. Never looking three feet in front of your face."

I glare across at the greasy haired boy, which I recognize instantly as Severus Snape, and snap back a response, "Well, it take two people to run into each other, Snape. Why don't you watch where you're going? And I am not my brother, therefore there is no need to place your childish quarrels on me." Then I stood up and wiped all of the dirt off of myself. I was already out of his sight when Snape was ready to respond.

_**AN- So, how was it? Fantastic I hope. Chapters should be coming out at a steady pace, but you never know. Drum line and school are quite time consuming, as for upcoming exams. Leave a review please! **_

_**Until next time. -Laura**_


	3. Train Ride

**Chapter Two: ****Train Ride**

Once I am out of Snape's sight, I am start making my way down the train again looking for a decent group of people to sit with. Being a Slytherin for me has had both it's ups and downs. For example, half of them hated me for thinking that I was a filthy blood-traitor. The other houses though that I was next up to become a Death Eater since I didn't make it into their house. It was all rather stupid really, seeing as I was neither one nor the other. I try to keep myself safely in the between of the war that is brewing. If I refuse to choose a side, then no one will hopefully bother me. I dread the day when I shall be forced to pick though because I still have no idea which side I would take. Then again, it seems more as if I wouldn't know which group of people to betray. There is my family, who have somehow loved me all my life even though I never really accepted it, and my best mate, who has supported me through my hardships. There are a lot of ups to being a Slytherin House too. I never have to deal with or even speak or even speak with my brother since we are in opposite houses. Less stress for me. I also have the best friend a person could ask for.

"Sophie Potter!" a deep voice calls my name from down the hall. I look up from my heavy thoughts to see my best mate, Regulus Black, walking toward me. "I have been looking for you everywhere. I saved us a compartment for us in the back."

A smile appears on my face as I run over to Reg and give him a small hug. "Regulus, it's good to finally see you! And I also had a compartment until my brother and his friends invaded it. Bastards."

He chuckles and guides me down the hall toward the back of the train. "I wouldn't expect any less from our brothers. Now, how was your summer?"

"Terrible. James had all of his friends stay over for the entire break. I almost committed murder, Regulus," I stated with slight over exaggeration. I basically hid in my room like usual. What fun.

We then arrive at our compartment, which was, by some miracle, still empty. I plop down on a bench and release a huge sigh.

"I can't wait until we're back at Hogwarts," I muttered quietly.

Hopefully it would be another year of staying under the radar. Just one more year and James will be gone and I could continue my schooling and maybe go onto being a curse breaker like I always wanted as a child, but knowing my luck that will probably never happen.

"Yeah, me too." Reg agrees quietly.

Neither of us speak for a while. We both just sit there and savor the silence, something we never seem to enjoy at home. Now our home lives were both completely opposite. While my family was loud and too involved with each other, Regulus' was cold and never seemed to speak to one another unless they needed something. I find it funny how we both crave what the other has. We are so different from the other, but yet so alike at the same time. Maybe that's why we are so close. It's strange really.

Also, Regulus has a pretty bad family compared to my own. Most of them are big supporters of that freak Lord Voldemort. Some of his cousins are even in his leagues. It's good that he has managed to stay out of it as long as he has, but we both know that his parents will make him join with no say in it what so ever. They are going to basically sell his soul to the devil and he can't say no or he'll get murdered like anyone who has ever said no to him. It's a lose-lose situation.

"Hey, Reg?"

"Yeah?"

"Our lives suck." I state bluntly out of nowhere.

"You're just now figuring this out?" he asks in exasperation.

I shake my head, "No, I just thought that I would finally say it out loud."

He lets out a big sigh before speaking, "You're such a weird person, Soph."

"I hope you know I'm taking that as a complement," I say with a slight smirk.

"I wouldn't expect anything else," Regulus huffs before a large grin takes over his face.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" I ask cautiously. This can't be good.

He is on the edge of his chair as he begins to explain to me his madness, "You know Stuart Craggy?"

"That jackass who tried to cup a feel on me third year? Then you full out punched him in the face repeatedly and was almost kicked off the quidditch team. Craggy then refused to let me on the team for the rest of my Hogwarts life. What about the bastard?" I ask as I sit up to look at him better.

"Oh, it's just that he transferred to Durmstrang and Higgs is now the new quidditch captain. Do you know what that means?"

I am overcome with immense joy and a rare smile takes over my face, "You don't mean... I can rejoin the quidditch team? This is the best news I've gotten all year! Oh, I can't wait to see the look on my brother's ugly face when he sees us beat him!"

Regulus gives me another grin and now our conversation is flowing at a steady pace. We basically don't shut up until we are almost at Hogwarts and have to quickly change into out robes.

"Ugh, I am starving!" my best mate whines as we make our way off the train.

"Merlin, I think we all are. We're almost there, so just shut it until after sorting," I mutter while swerving through the maze of students. "Let's go get a carriage before we end up sharing with a bunch of wankers."

He lets out a heavy sigh and clutches his stomach as it growls, "Okay, Soph. Let's go."

**AN- Sorry that it took longer than I though. I just don't know how I feel about this chapter. **

**Thanks for the reviews guys! Keep 'em coming!**

**Until next time! -Laura**


End file.
